The present invention is a game that is intended to train managers, and other employees, of organizations large and small, to think more creatively, and to cooperate more effectively in managing the organization.
Large corporations often have many departments, and may employ thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of persons. The organizational charts describing such businesses can become very large and complex, and a manager in one department is usually unaware of the circumstances of his or her counterparts in another department. Indeed, the various departments or divisions of a large corporation may function autonomously, and may even behave as competitors of each other.
The management of large organizations, as well as relatively small organizations, such as business corporations, therefore requires the coordination of effort among various divisions, departments, and subsections, such that all components of the organization operate in a manner that maximizes the benefit for the organization as a whole.
Many corporate managers are taught to view business as a competitive sport. Such managers adopt an aggressive attitude towards the management of their organizations, and may be determined to xe2x80x9cwin at all costsxe2x80x9d. Such an attitude may have positive effects, in motivating the manager to exert maximum effort. But this attitude also may mean that a greater benefit to the larger organization could be lost due to an individual manager""s excessive desire to achieve a specific goal for his or her department. In an efficiently managed organization, all parts of the organization operate harmoniously, each being aware of the needs and desires of the other, and each being aware that working together can maximize profit for all.
The present invention is a game that is intended to train managers and/or other personnel, especially those working in corporations or other organizations, in an entertaining and non-threatening way, to think and plan more creatively in managing their organizations. The present invention also provides a game which can be played, primarily for fun, by children or adults.
The present invention is a game played on a large, flat playing area, large enough to allow a number of players to walk through it. The playing area has a preferably annular path with a plurality of color-coded spaces, a material storage area, a plurality of home bases, and a plurality of small islands. The players are told that the object of the game is to accumulate bridge-building elements, stored in the material storage area, according to specified rules, and to build a bridge to the nearest small island, so as to solve a puzzle located on the small island in the shortest possible time.
The players are divided into teams, and each team chooses a leader who repeatedly rolls a die or spins a wheel, to generate random integers governing the movement of the players. The players traverse the path in accordance with these random numbers.
The actions of the players are determined in part by the color of each space on which a player lands. For example, if a player lands on a blue space, the player must take a bridge-building element from the storage area. If a player lands on a green space, the player must return a bridge-building element to the storage area. If a player lands on a red space, the player must steal a bridge-building element from another team. If a player lands on a yellow space, the player must give a bridge-building element to another team. In the preferred embodiment, the players of the various teams proceed simultaneously, usually resulting in a chaotic environment. If the action required is not possible, the player does nothing and the turn is wasted. For example, if the player lands on a blue space, but there are no more bridge-building elements in the storage area, the player does nothing.
When a team has accumulated enough bridge-building elements to build a bridge, and when all members of the team, except the leader, have traversed the path at least once, the team may begin to build a bridge to the nearest small island. The members of the team then travel along the bridge, their steps being again governed by random numbers determined by the leader, and they reach the small island, on which there is a bag containing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. In the preferred embodiment, the puzzle pieces are placed on the small islands such that no team has a complete set of puzzle pieces, and each team must cooperate with the other teams to solve the puzzle. The ultimate purpose of the game is to teach the players, in a humorous and enjoyable way, the importance of strategic planning and cooperation in managing organizations.
Another embodiment comprises a portable version of the above described game. A game board contains all of the components of the playing area described above, except that these components are in miniature, and are generally symbolic. In playing the board game, the players move a set of game pieces around the board. Thus, each player of the board game takes the role of the team leader in the large game. The winner of the game is the first player whose game pieces have all walked across the bridge to the small island. In the preferred embodiment of the miniature version, there is no puzzle on the small islands.
The invention also includes apparatus for playing both the large game and the miniature version described above. For the large game, one requires either a playing area marked as shown in FIG. 1, or a means for making such markings on a large, flat surface. One also requires a plurality of bridge-building elements, a plurality of tables, or their equivalents, for use as home bases, and a random number generating means, such as a spinner or dice. One also should provide puzzle pieces, as described above, in bags located on each of the small islands.
For the miniature version, the apparatus includes a portable game board having the features discussed above. In addition, there are provided a plurality of game pieces, which players move around the board as described. Also, the apparatus may include a set of cards which summarize the rules governing the acquisition or loss of bridge-building materials.
The present invention therefore has the primary object of providing a management training game.
The invention has the further object of teaching managers the importance of teamwork and cooperation in an enjoyable and non-threatening way.
The invention has the further object of providing a management training game in which players move around a large playing area and simulate the building of bridges.
The invention has the further object of providing a game played on a portable game board, to provide simple fun for children, and to provide a game of greater complexity and challenge for teenagers and adults.
The reader skilled in the art will recognize other objects and advantages of the present invention, from the following brief description of the drawings, the detailed description of the invention, and the appended claims.